Ask The Expert continued from pg. 18 shown in this article, repairing the vehicle was the lesser of the repairor-replace option. The insured retained Auto Claim Specialists as his public insurance adjuster and Vehicle Value Experts as his independent appraiser to invoke his policy Right to Appraisal to define the actual cash value in contest of the loss type (repair or replace). The carrier was put on notice that it had not defined the actual cash value, and an appraisal of the loss to define that actual cash value for establishing the contractual limits of liability repair or replace was ordered. After several time-sensitive notices, the unlawful carrier refused to honor the policyholder’s Right to Appraisal for his loss. Once this event of default occurred, we referred our client to an attorney. Once the carrier was placed on notice by the law firm, it was clearly caught off guard and finally began scrambling to resolve its violations. As noted earlier, the unlawful carrier ended up not only paying the complete repair cost of $5,425.34 to safely return the vehicle to its pre-loss condition but also paid our client over $15,000 in consequential damages. The purpose of insurance is to indemnify the insured from loss and put them back to the position they were before the loss. Just as we saw here, we routinely see insurance carriers deliberately or negligently under-indemnifying motor vehicle claims by following incompetent or intentionally deceptive claim practices. As a public insurance adjuster agency, we are allowed to represent the
insured and bring these infractions to the attention of the negligent or unlawful insurance carrier. In the event the carrier refuses to correct the infractions and abide by the policy of insurance it has sold our client – the insured – we must refer our client to a law firm to defend their policy rights. In reference to these referrals, we routinely see consequential damage settlements from the judicial process averaging $30,000 for claims that could have been settled for an average of $3,300. Consequential damages result from the negligent or unlawful carriers’ incompetent or intentionally deceptive claim practices and their ignoring policyholders’ rights to relief. The abuses, policy violations and infractions we see in our office are rampant and dangerously out of control. Since the pandemic, the lack of actual inspections of the loss has caused these violations and infractions to increase even more. Please call me should you have any questions relating to the policy or covered loss. We have most insurance policies in our library. Always keep in mind a safe repair is a quality repair, and quality equates to value. I thank you for your question and look forward to any follow-up questions that may arise. Sincerely, Robert L. McDorman TXA
20 SEPTember 2021 Texas Automotive
